Broadcast 2551 (Special Edition)

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Guest: Dr. Doug Plata. Topics: Doug's Space Advocate Projects present and to do. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience. We welcomed Dr. Doug Plata back to the show to discuss his space advocate projects that he has already done. In addition, he created a wish list of future advocate projects that he wants to do on his own or in collaboration with others. His 27 page Power Point Presentation detailing all of these projects has been posted to The Space Show blog so please take a look at it and follow along with us during the discussion. Dr. Plata's discussion follows the PPT page by page. You can see it at http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. In the first segment of our 2 hour 7 minute discussion, Doug explained why he does these projects citing having fun as a major motivating factor. He does go through the PPT topics and slides in order so rather than going through each one here in the summary, follow along with the PPT presentation on the blog. Some of the project had a more detailed discussion than others such as the theme park ride, the Gravitron which came up in the second segment. Listeners asked him several email questions on a variety of topics including how he could open up his projects to collaboration with others that were not physically in the same location or area as Doug. Doug was also asked if one needed an engineering, physics or other specific background to do what he was doing and Doug said no. I asked Doug if he felt constrained by physics, engineering, human factors medical science, etc. with his projects. This resulted in an interesting and most practical discussion and repose. Doug also coined a great phrase in response to this question, "Physics does not work in Power Point!" Later in the first segment, he talked in detail about large landers and the Centaur upper stage. His PPT shows pictures of his projects and where applicable, he created images to help us along in our understanding. We continued talking about the projects he has already done for the balance of the segment. In the second segment, we finished the discussion of his already done projects but we spent some time on the Gravitron. Here, Doug talked about additional experiments he would like to do revolving around the Graviton but he was not sure that the ride operators would be all that cooperative with him in allowing him and others to do these experiments. It is an interesting discussion, don't miss it. Doug soon turned to his wish list projects which start on slide 11. As before, our discussion tracked the slide number so it is easy to follow along with us. Among the listener questions that he fielded in this segment, one asked him how he knew for sure that there was sufficient water ice on the Moon at the poles or anywhere for that matter. Don't miss his response. John from Ft. Worth called this segment to follow up on his earlier dried food comments. John and Doug talked about dried food, the old C-rations used by the military or the more modern MREs, psychological food, the need to have fresh food, vegetables, greens, and such. Doug explained his theory on what fresh items might be most suitable for growing on say a Mars mission. Later in the segment, both listeners and I suggested Doug organize this and see if he could sell it as a mini-series for influencing kids based on the old Mr. Wizard TV show from decades ago. In fact, thorough out the show, Doug received many suggestions for increased marketing and awareness for his projects like this with little cost, hardly any lab equipment, and in the home environment. When we got to slide 24, Doug had much to say about experiments using a Finger monkey. He was not sure if one would have to do some sort of IRB to use the animal, especially if it was just a space advocate experiment. Near the end of the segment, Doug spoke in detail about humans vs. robots and robots that could repair other robots. Doug offered specific ideas regarding the humans vs. robot debate. He offered us good concluding points but again, he stated that having fun doing these projects was a big part of why he does it & why anyone should do it. One final question came in just before the show ended. This listener wanted to know if he was doing an end run around traditional space advocacy organizations because everything he talked about during our program was individual to him or other advocates. Not once did he make mention of any of the space advocacy organizations. Don't miss his response to this question. Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog above. You can reach Doug through me or his website per his PPT, www.lunarcots.com.

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